by Suzanne DeJohn
[caption id="attachment_2308" align="alignright" width="239" caption="These seedlings are are growing strong under fluorescent lights."]
- You can grow unusual varieties. There are thousands vegetable and flower varieties, yet relatively few of these are available for purchase as transplants. So if you have a particular variety in mind, like Black Cherry Tomatoes or Sweet Frying Peppers, you may have to start them from seed yourself.
- You can get a jump on spring. You don't have to wait until the weather warms up to plant heat-loving Basil -- start it indoors, transplant seedlings outdoors once the weather warms up and you'll begin harvesting it weeks before your outdoor-sown basil.
- You can save money. You'll get dozens of plants from a single pack of tomato seed -- a packet that costs less than the price of a single tomato transplant.
- You can control how the plants are grown. For example, you may choose not to spray pesticides on your seedlings.

- Many favorite garden crops, such as Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant, originated in tropical environments and require a long, frost-free growing season. In many parts of the U.S., if you plant tomato seeds outdoors after the last spring frost you’ll be lucky to get a tomato or two before the first fall frost. If you want to grow these long-season, heat-loving crops, either start them from seed indoors or purchase transplants to set out after the last spring frost.
- In regions with short springs where summer heat arrives early, it helps to start cool-season crops like Broccoli, Cabbage and Cauliflower indoors. Crops like these grow and produce best in cool weather, so starting them indoors and setting them out as transplants a few weeks before the last spring frost gives them time to mature before hot weather arrives. For an extra early harvest, start Lettuce indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost date.